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Development

Low-income countries differ from higher-income countries in that they have large informal sectors, greater prevalence of self-employment and subsistence agriculture, low female labor participation rates and poor labor market conditions. As labor is most often the only asset of someone in poverty, policies that are not associated with job creation may fail to reduce poverty. Contributions to this subject area deal with the potential of labor economics to address those challenges.

How to design social protection programs that
poor women can benefit from

Women are more likely than men to work in the
informal sector and to drop out of the labor force for a time, such as after
childbirth, and to be impeded by social norms from working in the formal
sector. This work pattern undermines productivity, increases women's
vulnerability to income shocks, and impairs their ability to save for old
age. Many developing countries have introduced social protection programs to
protect poor people from social and economic risks, but despite women's
often greater need, the programs are generally less accessible to women than
to men.

Better information on university quality may
reduce underemployment and overeducation in developing countries

As the number of secondary school graduates
rises, many developing countries expand the supply of public and private
universities or face pressure to do so. However, several factors point to
the need for caution, including weak job markets, low-quality university
programs, and job–education mismatches. More university graduates in this
context could exacerbate unemployment, underemployment, and overeducation of
professionals. Whether governments should regulate the quantity or quality
of university programs, however, depends on the specific combination of
factors in each country.

Improving outcomes for women takes more than
raising labor force participation—good jobs are important too

The relationship between female labor force
participation and economic development is far more complex than often
portrayed in both the academic literature and policy debates. Due to various
economic and social factors, such as the pattern of growth, education
attainment, and social norms, trends in female labor force participation do
not conform consistently with the notion of a U-shaped relationship with
GDP. Beyond participation rates, policymakers need to focus on improving
women’s access to quality employment.

Raising the minimum wage in developing countries
could increase or decrease poverty, depending on labor market
characteristics. Minimum wages target formal sector workers—a minority in
most developing countries—many of whom do not live in poor households.
Whether raising minimum wages reduces poverty depends not only on whether
formal sector workers lose jobs as a result, but also on whether low-wage
workers live in poor households, how widely minimum wages are enforced, how
minimum wages affect informal workers, and whether social safety nets are in
place.

Uncoordinated unemployment insurance and
severance pay do a poor job of insuring against losses resulting from job
displacement

Job displacement poses a serious earnings threat
to long-tenured workers through unemployment spells and lower re-employment
wages. The prevailing method of insuring job displacement losses involves an
uncoordinated combination of unemployment insurance and severance pay. Less
developed countries often rely exclusively on public mandating of employer
severance pay due to the administrative complexity of unemployment insurance
systems. If both options are operational, systematic integration of the two
is important, although perhaps not possible if severance pay is voluntarily
provided.

More important than defining and measuring informality is focusing on reducing its detrimental consequences

There are more informal workers than formal workers across the globe, and yet there remains confusion as to what makes workers or firms informal and how to measure the extent of it. Informal work and informal economic activities imply large efficiency and welfare losses, in terms of low productivity, low earnings, sub-standard working conditions, and lack of social insurance coverage. Rather than quibbling over definitions and measures of informality, it is crucial for policymakers to address these correlates of informality in order to mitigate the negative efficiency and welfare effects.

From 2001 to 2015, Brazil experienced a profound
reduction in income inequality. The commodities boom and some institutional
changes in the early 2000s kick-started the Brazilian labor market,
increasing the quantity of formal jobs and earnings, especially for the
poorest workers. Significant increases in average schooling and the real
minimum wage helped reduce ethnic, gender, and regional earnings gaps,
though all remain rather high. However, since 2014 a major fiscal crisis has
negatively affected GDP and the labor market, seriously threatening these
achievements.

Wage losses upon re-employment can seriously harm long-tenured
displaced workers if they are not properly insured

Job displacement represents a serious earnings risk to
long-tenured workers through lower re-employment wages, and these losses may persist for many
years. Moreover, this risk is often poorly insured, although not for a lack of policy
interest. To reduce this risk, most countries mandate scheduled wage insurance (severance
pay), and it is voluntarily provided in others. Actual-loss wage insurance is uncommon,
although perceived difficulties may be overplayed. Both approaches offer the hope of greater
consumption smoothing, with actual-loss plans carrying greater promise.

The benefits of trade regulation increase when workers are mobile

Economists have shown that international trade increases economic growth, with trade liberalization and integration having characterized the last 50 years. While trade can increase national welfare, recent estimates from both developed and developing countries show that labor market adjustment costs matter. Regulating trade, defined as adding or removing tariffs and other trade barriers, is not the best way to help lower-income workers who suffer from trade-induced losses. Policies that reduce adjustment costs may increase aggregate welfare more than regulating trade flows does.

Labor productivity is generally seen as bringing
wealth and prosperity; but how does it vary over the business cycle?

Aggregate labor productivity is a central
indicator of an economy’s economic development and a wellspring of living
standards. Somewhat controversially, many macroeconomists see productivity
as a primary driver of fluctuations in economic activity along the business
cycle. In some countries, the cyclical behavior of labor productivity seems
to have changed. In the past 20–30 years, the US has become markedly less
procyclical, while the rest of the OECD has not changed or productivity has
become even more procyclical. Finding a cogent and coherent explanation of
these developments is challenging.